Pedestal support and floor constructed of such pedestal supports

ABSTRACT

A floor assembly, such as a bowling floor, is supported above a sub-floor by telescoping pedestal supports that are vertically extendable and vertically retractable. Upper and lower ends of the pedestal supports are fixed to the floor assembly and the sub-floor, respectively, so that when a pedestal support is vertically retracted, a downward force will be applied to the floor assembly, for removing bulges in the floor assembly for example.

CROSS-RELATED REFERENCE

The application claims benefit of application Ser. No. 10/879,725, filed Jun. 30, 2004 of which this is a continuation.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a floor of the type comprising a flooring, which is adapted to be supported, at a distance above a sub-floor, by means of a system of beams and pedestal supports. The invention also relates to pedestal supports for such a floor.

BACKGROUND ART

Floors of the type described above are used in a large number of applications, for instance as installation floors in control rooms and sub-exchanges for telephony. A great advantage of such floors is that the space formed between the flooring and the sub-floor can be used for installations of various kinds, such as electric wiring, signal transfer lines, heat and water piping, sewer lines, ventilation tubes and the like.

A common type of such floors comprises pedestal supports of metal which are square tubes and whose upper end is closed by an end wall which is provided with a through hole. One end of a threaded shaft provided with a holder is insertable into the hole while the other end of the treaded shaft has a fastener which is U-shaped in cross-section and adapted to be screwed to the beams of the floor. The longitudinal adjustment of the pedestal support is performed by a stop nut being screwed along the threaded shaft and thus defining a lower stop position of the holder and, thus, a vertical level for the holder and the floor. The lower end of the pedestal supporting is screwed to the sub-floor which is usually made of concrete. Such a floor construction makes it possible, during and after installation of the floor, to provide quick and easy adjustment of the height of the floor to eliminate any differences in height. However, such a floor will be fairly unstable in the lateral direction and must therefore be braced against surrounding walls, which implies that there are walls which are sufficiently stable and suited for this purpose. If, after mounting, the flooring should begin to bulge owing to tension or the like that form the flooring, there is almost no possibility of correcting this in a simple manner, but the only option is in most cases to take up the flooring and lay it once more. Moreover the vertical setting can later be changed unintentionally by the vertical adjusting nut being threaded up or down on the threaded shaft, for instance due to vibrations.

Another type of floor where a flooring is to be supported above a sub-floor is a bowling floor. In such floors, a flooring of wood or fiberboard and laminate with great finish is to be supported at a level above a sub-floor, usually of concrete, on the one hand to be able to accommodate installations in the form of, for instance, electric wiring, ball gutters and pin set-up devices in the space between the sub-floor and the flooring but, on the other hand, also to be able to mount the flooring flat and horizontal with great accuracy, which precisely for, inter alia, bowling floors is most important. As far as is known, such floors have up to now always been made up of a system of primary and secondary beams of wood, in which case the plane and horizontal adjustment occurs by means of wedges that are driven in between the primary beams and the concrete floor. There are several drawbacks of such a floor. For instance, wood is susceptible to moisture and may cause motions due to moisture which can be devastating to the flatness and the horizontal balancing and may also cause formation of mold at too high a moisture content. Such a system of wooden beams also provides small spaces for installations since they take up themselves much of the space between the flooring and the sub-floor. Moreover, vertical adjustment by means of wedges is both complicated and time consuming and there is a risk of the wedges between primary beams and sub-floor being dislodged due to vibrations, so that the flatness and horizontal balancing of the floor is changed during the life of the floor. In that case, it is very difficult, and in most cases impossible, to readjust the floor without taking it up wholly or partly and laying it once more.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved pedestal support of the type mentioned by way of introduction and, more specifically, to provide a pedestal support which can easily be adjusted at a well-defined level from which the flooring is prevented from being unintentionally dislodged both towards the sub-floor and away there from. At least this object is achieved by a pedestal support according to claim 1.

The invention also relates to a floor with essentially the same object as stated above. This object is achieved by means of a floor according to claim 6.

The invention is thus based on the knowledge that a floor with improved possibilities of vertical adjustment also after installation of the floor can be provided by designing the pedestal supports in such a manner that, in spite of being longitudinally adjustable after installation of the floor when the pedestal supports are connected to both the sub-floor and the beams in a manner preventing rotation, the pedestal supports are capable of absorbing compressive as well as tractive forces.

This can be provided in various ways. The simplest way is, like in the preferred embodiment, to let one end of a threaded rod be screwable into and out of a threaded hole in a body while the other end of the rod is, by means of a rotary joint, freely rotatable relative to a holder for the beams. The opposite would also be possible, i.e. that a body with an internally threaded hole is rotatable relative to a stationary threaded rod. Also double threads with opposite pitches would be conceivable, for instance a rod with opposite thread pitches at each end which is screwable into and out of a lower body connected to the sub-floor, and an upper body connected to the flooring, which each have an internally threaded hole. A further alternative is to arrange a tubular body with an internally threaded hole with opposite thread pitches at each end, which is screwable into and out of opposite threaded rods, viz. a first rod attached to the sub-floor and a second rod attached to the beams. The important thing is that the pedestal support is constructed of at least three different pedestal support parts, i.e. the body, the threaded rod and the holder according to the embodiment, which are connected in series and freely rotatable relative to each other, at least two of the pedestal support parts being screwably displaceable in the longitudinal direction relative to each other.

In the preferred embodiment, the pedestal support has the form of a lower tubular body, and continuous adjustment in the longitudinal direction is performed by means of a threaded rod, one end of which can be screwed into and out of a threaded hole in the body while the other end has an upper pedestal support part in the form of a holder or an attachment for connection to and carrying of a system of load-bearing beams on which the flooring is mounted. It would also be conceivable to allow, in addition to continuous fine adjustment, rough adjustment of the length of the pedestal support by dividing the body into two separate body parts, one body part being displaceable inside the other so that the body parts are lockable in different variable or fixed positions relative to each other.

Preferably the threaded rod is lockable relative to the body in order to prevent unintentional longitudinal adjustment of the pedestal leg, for instance due to vibrations. Such locking can easily be performed, like in the preferred embodiment, by mounting a lock nut on the threaded rod and, when the pedestal support has the correct length, the lock nut can be tightened against the upper side of the body, thus locking the rod. However, rotation-preventing locking could also be performed in some other manner, for instance by cotter pins, locking screws or the like.

The floor has a system of beams which are supported on the pedestal supports and which in turn support the flooring. In the preferred embodiment, the system of beams comprises intersecting beams in two planes, viz. primary and secondary beams. For some applications, it would however be possible to arrange beams in one plane only, but this may have the drawback that the number of pedestal supports must be increased. It is preferred to use beams of metal, preferably steel, since such beams with a suitable anticorrosive treatment are unsusceptible to moisture. However, it will be understood that also wooden beams could be used.

The inventive floor and the pedestal support are specially suited for floors where high demands are placed on flatness and horizontal balancing. A type of floor where this is the case is, as is also shown in the following embodiment, a floor for bowling. An additional advantage of using a floor according to the present invention as a bowling floor is that the gutters that are placed on both sides of each lane can be made raisable so as to allow easy access for adjustment of the lengths of the pedestal supports, if required.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described and shown in the accompanying drawings, applied in a bowling floor by way of example. In the drawings

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section through part of a bowling floor,

FIG. 2 is a cross-section along line II-II in FIG. 1, and

FIGS. 3-5 are a perspective view and two side views of a pedestal support according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 1 and 2 are a longitudinal section and a cross-section, respectively, of a bowling floor constructed according to the present invention, two separate bowling lanes 1 being illustrated in FIG. 2. The bowling floor is supported by a sub-floor, which, for instance, may comprise a concrete floor slab (not shown), on top of this a sound-insulating layer 2 of, for instance, mineral wool, and a carrying layer 3 of fiberboard.

The actual bowling floor comprises short pedestal supports 4 and long pedestal supports 4′ which stand on the sub-floor and support, at a distance from this, a system of load-bearing beams, viz. primary beams 5 and intersecting secondary beams 6. A flooring rests on top of the secondary beams, which is constructed of two layers 7, 8 of load-bearing fiberboards and a surface layer 9 of, for example, veneer or laminate. The beams 5, 6 and the flooring 7, 8, 9 together form a floor assembly.

As is shown in FIG. 1, the bowling floor comprises two different sections of slightly different designs, a lane 1′ and a pin platform 1″. What differs the two sections is that the pin platform has a somewhat thicker flooring and correspondingly shorter pedestal supports. The primary and secondary beams, however, have the same height, but the secondary beams are arranged with a smaller interspace under the pin platform. The reason for these differences is that the wear and the load exerted on the pin platform is considerably greater since this is the place where the pins are placed during the play, and the pin platform also supports the device that collects and arranges the pins and ensures that the balls are returned to the beginning of the lane. For this reason, the lane and the pin platform are also separate from each other and separately adjustable in the vertical direction independently of each other. The flooring of the pin platform can be reconditioned, for instance ground, separately when the wear on the pin platform has become too great, without necessitating grinding of the entire lane. After such reconditioning, the pin platform can easily be set at exactly the same height as the lane by adjusting the lengths of the pedestal supports, even if the thickness of the flooring has been changed.

On each side of the pin platform, there is a vertical wall element 10 which on the one hand serves to support the pin handling device and on the one hand prevents the pins from being thrown away to neighboring lanes as the balls hit the pins.

As shown in FIG. 2, a gutter 11 is located on both sides of each lane. The gutters 11 serve to catch misaligned balls which are on their way of leaving the lane. Such gutters are in most cases made raisable, which makes it possible to easily readjust the length of the pedestal supports, if required.

Then reference is made to FIGS. 3-5, which show a pedestal support in more detail. The shown pedestal support is one of the short pedestal supports 4 under the pin platform 1″. However, it will be understood that the long pedestal supports 4′ under the lane 1′ are of essentially the same design, the only difference being that the length of a body 12 of the pedestal support is greater.

The body 12 is tubular and its lower end is connected to a triangular base part or plate 13. The upper end of the body has an end plate 14 through which a threaded through hole (not shown) is formed. A threaded rod 15 is screwable into and out of the threaded hole in the end plate 14, and the upper end of the threaded rod is rotatably connected to a beam holder 16 which is U-shaped in cross-section. The threaded rod 15 is rotatable by means of a tool which is engageable with a nut 17 that is non-rotatably fixed to the threaded rod 15. A lock nut is designated 18 and, when the threaded rod 15 has been rotated so that the beam holder 16 has assumed the desired height above the base plate 13, the lock nut can be tightened and locked against the end plate 14, thus locking the threaded rod and preventing unintentional rotation thereof.

When mounting the inventive floor, the pedestal supports 4, 4′ are thus placed on the sub-floor, in the shown Example on the carrier plate 3, and is screwed to this by means of screws through holes in the base plate 13. The length of the pedestal support can now be roughly set, and subsequently the primary beams are placed in the beam holders 16 of the pedestal supports and screwed to these. When also the secondary beams 6 have been fixed to the primary beams, the height of the pedestal supports can be set exactly by the threaded rod being screwed up or down in the threaded hole in the end plate 14. This is made possible, although the base plate 13 is non-rotatably connected to the sub-floor and the beam holder 16 is non-rotatably connected to the primary beams, by the threaded rod 15 being rotatably connected to the beam holder 16 by a rotary joint (not shown). When the height and the horizontal balancing are within given tolerances, the threaded rod 15 is locked by the lock nut 18. Subsequently it is possible to mount the flooring and all the other equipment, such as gutters 11, carrier walls 10 and pin handling devices. If, after the final mounting, the height of the floor within an area should deviate from given tolerances, it is an easy operation to raise one of the gutters 11 to allow access for readjustment of the pedestal supports involved. As mentioned above, it will then also be possible to pull the flooring down towards the sub-floor if, for some reason, tension should have arisen, striving to bulge the flooring upwards.

By constructing the bowling floor in the manner described above according to the invention, a very stable floor is obtained, which can quickly and easily be constructed and set at a correct level above the sub-floor. Since the threaded rod 15 is threadedly connected to the body 12, a connection practically without play is obtained, which, in combination with the torque-absorbing connection of the base part 13 to the sub-floor, allows the floor to be completely separate from surrounding walls. This, combined with the fact that the sub-floor is made as a floating floor with an insulating layer 2, completely without joists, against the concrete floor, results in excellent sound insulation that counteracts structure-borne sound propagating through the concrete structure. This is particularly advantageous for bowling floors since the balls and the pins produce sound that may be experienced as very disturbing, but it is not impossible that these properties can be very advantageous also for other types of floor. 

1. A floor comprising: a sub-floor; a floor assembly spaced above the sub-floor and including load-bearing beams and a flooring thereon; and pedestal supports vertically telescopically adjustable and connected between the sub-floor and the floor assembly in such manner that the pedestal support applies upward force to the floor assembly when the pedestal support is extended vertically and applies downward force to the floor assembly when the pedestal support is vertically retracted.
 2. The floor as claimed in claim 1 wherein upper and lower ends of the pedestal supports are rigidly fixed to the floor assembly and the sub-floor, respectively.
 3. The floor as claimed in claim 1 wherein an upper end of the pedestal support is non-rotatable relative to the floor assembly.
 4. The floor as claimed in claim 1 wherein each pedestal support comprises a holder fixedly connected to the beams and which is rotatably connected to a threaded rod which in turn is threadedly connected to a pedestal support body which is fixedly connected to the sub-floor.
 5. The floor as claimed in claim 4 wherein the threaded rod has an engaging means allowing screwing of the rod into and out of the body by means of a tool.
 6. The floor as claimed in claim 4 wherein the threaded rod has a lock nut which is tightenable against the body to lock the threaded rod relative to the body when the desired vertical length of the pedestal support is achieved.
 7. The floor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the body comprises a base part directly fixedly connected to the sub-floor.
 8. The floor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the flooring has at least one operable portion to allow access for adjustment of the vertical lengths of the pedestal supports.
 9. The floor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the floor is a bowling floor.
 10. The floor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sub-floor comprises a sound-insulating layer and, arranged thereon, a carrying layer on which the pedestal supports are supported.
 11. In a building comprising a sub-floor, vertical walls, and a floor assembly including load-bearing beams and a flooring thereon, the floor assembly being spaced above the sub-floor and supported thereby for up-and-down movement relative thereto, wherein the floor assembly constitutes a floating floor assembly which is separate from the walls, the building further comprising pedestal supports vertically telescopically adjustable and connected between the sub-floor and the floor assembly in such manner that each pedestal support applies upward force to the floor assembly when the pedestal support is extended vertically and applies downward force to the floor assembly when the pedestal support is vertically retracted.
 12. The building according to claim 11, wherein the flooring constitutes a bowling floor having a plurality of side-by-side lanes and respective pin platforms, the floor assembly further including gutters, each lane and associated pin platform being disposed between two of the gutters.
 13. The building according to claim 12, wherein each pin platform is separate from its respective lane and is adjustable up-and-down independently thereof by the pedestal supports.
 14. In a building comprising a sub-floor and a floor assembly including load-bearing beams and a flooring thereon, the floor assembly being above the sub-floor and supported thereby for up-and-down movement relative thereto, wherein the flooring constitutes a bowling floor having a plurality of side-by-side lanes and associated pin platforms, the floor assembly further comprising variable gutters, each lane and associated pin platform being disposed between two of the gutters, wherein adjustment devices are provided in a space disposed between the sub-floor and the floor assembly for applying a force to respective regions of the floor assembly, the improvement wherein each adjustment device comprises: a pedestal support vertically telescopically adjustable and connected between the sub-floor and the floor assembly in such manner that the pedestal support applies upward force to the floor assembly when the pedestal support is extended vertically and applies downward force to the floor assembly when the pedestal support is vertically retracted, wherein some of the pedestal supports are arranged in straddling relationship to the gutters and are accessible for adjustment when the respective gutters are raised. 